ZIKA VIRUS DISEASE: A GLOBAL HEALTH CHALLENGE

Abstract

Zika virus is a flavivirus that belongs to the family Flaviviridae. It is a mosquito-transmitted infection related to dengue, yellow fever and West Nile virus. It was first discovered in 1947, during a study of yellow fever from the blood of a sentinel rhesus monkey that had been placed in the Zika Forest of Uganda. There are three strains of Zika virus in circulation, Nigerian Cluster, MR766 Cluster, and the Asian genotype. To date, Zika virus remain in relative obscurity for 60 years; then, it spread from Africa and Asia to cause the first large outbreak in humans on the Pacific island of Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia in 2007. Prior to this event, no outbreaks and only 16 cases of human Zika virus disease had been documented worldwide. Thereafter, Zika virus was introduced into Brazil from the Pacific Islands where it caused the largest outbreak ever in humans and spread swiftly throughout the Americas. Today, Zika virus is commanding worldwide attention because researchers have found evidence that Zika may be linked to birth defects and neurological conditions like microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. Thus, this review explicates in detail the available information on the virology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, transmission, clinical manifestation and diagnosis. Proactive measures to curtail the spread of Zika virus infection are also highlighted.